Two species of Redpoll.

We were invited back round to Michael & Mary’s garden today, for another go at catching some of their Redpoll. Arriving at dawn and a 30 foot net up soon after, the birds started to trickle their way in.

After several slices of toast & cups of coffee – kindly provided by Mary, we were ready for the first net round, which produced many Redpoll, keeping us busy throughout the morning. But perhaps the highlight of this visit was catching a Mealy Redpoll, only the 5th ever to be ringed by the group!

 

For comparison – Mealy on the Left & Lesser on the Right.

Goldfinch were more numerous on this visit, resulting in 10 being caught, along side a Great Spotted Woodpecker which just missed our net last time! However of the 12+ Brambling present none felt bold enough to come close to the net!

The session was rounded off on an all time high, when capturing our first control for the site. This came in the form of a Lesser Redpoll carrying ring – X922915 – which sounded rather familiar & upon checking IPMR, confirming what we thought, that I ringed this bird at my Shakerley feeding station in Feb 2010. Around 10km distance.

Control X922915.

In total 67 birds were caught including 50 new, 16 recaps & 1 control.

Species	New	Recap	Control
Lesser Redpoll	29	16	1
Mealy Redpoll	1
Goldfinch	10
Great Tit	1
Blue Tit	6
Blackbird	2
G S Woodpecker	1

 

Our thanks to Michael & Mary for having us again……